Crypto billionaires give Reform UK £72 million

Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne each announced a £36 million donation to Reform UK, putting crypto wealth at the center of Britain’s funding debate.

Key points

BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Tether-linked investor Christopher Harborne each announced a £36 million donation to Reform UK.
The donors did not disclose whether the new payments were made in cash or cryptocurrency.
A bill before the House of Lords would suspend crypto political donations and cap certain overseas-elector contributions, but it is not yet law.

Two crypto-linked donors reshape the funding picture

Two billionaires whose wealth is tied to the cryptocurrency industry have announced a combined £72 million in donations to Reform UK, giving Nigel Farage’s party an unprecedented financial boost and placing digital-asset money at the center of Britain’s political-funding debate.

Christopher Harborne said on Saturday that he had given £36 million, matching the amount announced a day earlier by Ben Delo, a co-founder of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX. Reuters reported the combined total as roughly $97 million and said both contributions exceeded the previous record for a single donation to a British political party.

Harborne, an investor associated with stablecoin issuer Tether and exchange Bitfinex, disclosed his decision in a first-person Telegraph article. Delo announced his contribution through the same newspaper. Their stated reasons focused on giving Reform enough resources to compete with Labour and the Conservatives and prepare for the next general election, which is due by 2029.

The payment method remains undisclosed

Neither donor specified whether the latest money was transferred in pounds or cryptocurrency. That distinction matters because the announcements come while Parliament is considering new limits aimed specifically at digital-asset donations. Previous contributions recorded for the donors by the Electoral Commission were cash payments, but that does not establish how these new donations were made.

The Electoral Commission’s published figures show that Reform accepted £9.26 million in non-public donations during the first quarter of 2026. Its database recorded £3 million from Harborne and £2 million from Delo in January, providing official context for their earlier support. The newly announced £72 million will not necessarily appear immediately because parties report qualifying donations through scheduled returns.

Proposed restrictions are still moving through Parliament

The Representation of the People Bill reached the House of Lords on September 3 after completing its Commons stages. The government says the measure would suspend cryptocurrency political donations until stronger safeguards can address traceability concerns. It would also impose a £100,000 annual cap on donations and regulated loans from certain British citizens registered abroad.

Those provisions have not yet taken effect. The Parliament bill tracker shows that the proposal still must complete its Lords stages, any consideration of amendments and royal assent. Reporting the restrictions as current law would therefore be premature.

Why the crypto connection matters

Delo co-founded BitMEX and pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act over the exchange’s anti-money-laundering program. President Donald Trump pardoned him and other BitMEX co-founders in 2025. Harborne has longstanding investments in major crypto businesses. Their involvement illustrates how fortunes built around digital assets can translate into conventional political influence even when the donations themselves are not confirmed as crypto payments.

Reform has promoted industry-friendly proposals, including a lower capital-gains-tax rate for cryptoassets and a bitcoin reserve at the Bank of England. The donors said they do not expect policy favors in return. The scale of their support, however, is likely to intensify scrutiny of large individual contributions and the rules governing crypto-linked political finance.

The immediate effect is financial rather than legislative: Reform gains substantial campaign resources, while the legal treatment of future digital-asset donations remains unsettled. The next points to watch are the bill’s progress through the Lords, the eventual Electoral Commission disclosures and confirmation of how the two payments were delivered.

Sources

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Crypto billionaires give Reform UK £72 million as funding rules tighten